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BD Brings HealthSight Diversion App to Combat Opioid Crisis

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Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX - Free Report) , also known as BD, recently launched the HealthSight diversion management application to help hospitals and health systems identify drug diversion. This is likely to boost BD’s Medication Management business apart from fighting the opioid crisis in the United States.

Following the announcement, shares of BD rose 0.6% to $250.10 at close. Over the past year, the stock has rallied 9.6% compared with the industry’s 1.8% rise. The current level is also higher than the S&P 500 index’s 4.5% increase.

The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

For investors’ notice, drug diversion is the illegal transfer of prescription drugs to patients who are not prescribed. It leads to addiction to prescribed drugs among patients which might eventually cause overdose.

More on BD HealthSight Diversion Management App

BD HealthSight diversion management is a cloud-based application which is part of the BD HealthSight platform. The application is designed to support enterprise-wide medication management and assist with opioid drug diversion investigations.

The solution uses data from existing BD products, including the BD Pyxis ES system and the Electronic Medical Record (EMR).

The U.S. Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis in the United States began in the 1990s which has been causing death waves across the nation. In fact, the epidemic has reduced the overall life expectancy of the country.

Per new data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it led to more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017.

As a prevention measure, MedTech bigwig McKesson Corporation (MCK - Free Report) reports controlled substances transactions via the automated ARCOS drug reporting system. Notably, ARCOS is an automated, comprehensive drug reporting system which monitors the flow of DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) controlled substances.

Medication Management Segment at a Glance

BD’s Medication Management unit enables many solutions that can help clinicians streamline and automate medication and supply processes. BD Alaris infusion also deserves a mention in this regard.

Notably, in the last reported quarter, the segment grew 21.3% year over year.

Key Picks

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Integer Holdings Corporation (ITGR - Free Report) and Veeva Systems (VEEV - Free Report) .

Integer Holdings has an earnings growth rate of 31.2% for the next quarter and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Veeva Systems’ long-term earnings growth rate is estimated at 19.3%. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2.

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